Decoding Violent Protests in Meiteis’ Imphal Valley: N. Biren Singh’s Covert Hand Exposed

The Meitei government, led by N. Biren Singh, on Tuesday banned Internet services in five districts of the Imphal Valley and imposed a curfew in two of them as the Meitei students’ protests turned ugly for the two successive days.

The protesters, demanding the resignation of State’s Security Advisor, Kuldeep Singh; DGP Rajiv Singh and handing over of Unified Command authority to the Chief Minister, N. Biren Singh, clashed with the security forces on the streets of Imphal.

The students defied the curfew as more protesters joined them to march to the Raj Bhavan but security personnel stopped them from nearing the VIP zone. This led to scuffles and the security personnel fired tear gas shells to disperse the protesters.

This violent protest is nothing but a N. Biren Singh-instigated drama to pressurize the Centre government amid speculations of his possible replacement from the top leadership. He is struggling to cling on the top post even after his incriminating audiotapes haunted him badly. The explosive audiotapes leaked to the media best explain his complicity in the state-sponsored ethnic genocide of Kuki-Zo community.

Sequence of events leading to the violent protest clearly indicate that N. Biren Singh is behind the violence so as to remain at the top of the helm.

On September 7, Biren Singh once again created a drama around his possible resignation. The next day, amid much hype over his resignation, Biren met the Governor and later announced that he would not resign at that juncture. He then submitted an eight-point charter of demands to the Governor, including the demand for holding the Unified Command authority.

The Meitei Government, on September 8, declared closure of schools and colleges from 9-10 September, 2024, for no stated reason and no central or state holiday falling on those days. As the educational institutions were closed, the Meitei students came out on the streets in protest, in their school uniforms no less, as if their collective minds had been synchronised, their demands unsurprisingly in tune with that of the CM’s. It may be mentioned that the holidays were declared only for educational institutions and not all state and central offices. As such it can be easily deduced that the students’ participation had already been pre-planned, organised and co-ordinated. The image of students in uniform protesting and clashing with security forces proved a strong imagery, skillfully planned to have the maximum impact on media.

The protesting mob attacked Raj Bhavan in the heart of Imphal. At least 50 violent protesters sustained injuries due to clashes with the security forces, all purely to serve the political interest of one person - N. Biren Singh, the CM and mastermind of the current Manipur violence whose alleged confessions have been caught on voice recordings. For his own personal gain, he has no qualms pitting Meiteis against Meiteis - Meitei students against Meitei state police (and central security forces), resulting in the injury of a state policeman by a bullet wound in his leg along with several other students. Lives could have been lost, but the CM couldn’t care less as long as the drama had its intended effects - shifting blame on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state from himself to the non-native DGP of the state Shri Rajiv Singh, IPS and the security advisor Kuldiep Singh, thereby justifying his demand for control of the Unified Command, putting pressure on the Central government through the office of the state Governor, and once again diverting attention away from his leaked confessions. He may claim to be the hero of the Meiteis who started a war against the Kukis to safeguard the imagined threat to their identity, culture, land and so on and it seems he is willing to sacrifice any life – Kuki or Meitei – in this delusion.

How protesting students led to a bullet injury of a policeman is a question the state media did not bother to answer. Video evidence exists, but since it does not fit the narrative, the injured policeman barely makes the news. Another question worth pondering is whether the Central is playing Biren or the other way round. No doubt, the experts at the Centre would like to think that Biren is just a puppet; pliable in their own hands as long as they put him in his CM seat but the situation on the ground tempts one to think that the puppetry has gone the other way round for a while now. It has become more apparent that as the conflict drags on, it is the Centre who has been dancing to Biren’s tunes instead of the other way around. Or at the very least, that Biren, much aware that he is a mere puppet, is trying to tug back at the strings with all his might.

This evening, the Governor informed representatives of the protesting students that it would not  be possible to grant their demand of giving Unified Command to the Chief Minister. The students, who have been agitating for the change, expressed their dissatisfaction, stating that since their demands were not met, all schools and colleges would be shut down indefinitely.

Meanwhile, N. Biren Singh’s government ordered an extension of the closure for all government and private colleges. As per the updated directive, Government Colleges, Aided Colleges, and Private Colleges under the Higher & Technical Education Department will remain closed on 11th September 2024 (Wednesday) and 12th September 2024 (Thursday).